Dark Metamorphosis
by Leonaria Dragonbane
Summary: Zacharias de la Cruz is waiting for the chance to walk into the dawn, but will he choose life with a mutant, even if she's his lifemate, and her father is a trained assassin. This is a crossover to the X-men movie. Please review
1. Chapter 1

Dark Metamorphosis

This has been rolling around for weeks, and to my regular readers, yes am totally distracted but hope to be back to my usual shenanigans soon.

I normally hate crossovers but this one won't leave me alone. Christine Feehan owns everything Carpathian and Marvel comics owns everything X-Men I only own my poor little traumatized OC. Wink.

Picks up while the de la Cruz brothers are in Romania for Dark Celebration.

Zacharias de la Cruz/OC

XXXXXXXXXXX

Kat glanced around her, waiting for the enemy to pounce out of the dark forest. He was fast, and strong, but she had youth and cunning on her side. He was hiding up wind and she couldn't get enough of a scent to know from which angle he was going to strike. She stayed low, ready to spring into action as soon as he gave her any indication of his direction.

She heard the slightest creak in a branch behind and to the left of her and leapt far to the right. She couldn't stop the pleased grin, and slight chuckle that escaped her lips.

"Good job, Cub." He growled. She grinned, but stayed in the combat crouch. He didn't compliment her often and it felt good to earn one. She knew the exercise wasn't over and wasn't going to let him get the upper hand. It was to first blood, and as always he was ahead of her in every way. She was only surprised at his speed, for his age, but she shouldn't have been, even at over two hundred years of age, he didn't look any older than she did at thirty five.

He might be her sire but he could move as fast as she could. She managed to avoid the brunt of the rush but knew he'd won by the sharp sting down her back.

"First blood to me." He grunted and she nodded. "Get cleaned up and get dinner on, cub." He grinned at her, his fangs flashing in the dying sunlight. She groaned. She hated cooking. She watched his tall frame stalk silently into the woods as she turned back to the house...if you could call it that.

Three stories of chrome and glass, it had been mistaken more than once for a Wright building. Oh, he'd had some input, but the design was all dad. She grinned. He hadn't been home in fifteen years, and he seemed calmer than he had the last time she talked to him. She opened the heavy brushed steel front door and heaved a small sigh of relief as all the minute sounds of nature were shut out. It was the main feature she loved about this place - the soundproofing. Inside the doors was a peaceful world where nothing could enter to disturb the occupants, not even dust.

She walked around the chrome island and pulled a couple steaks from the refrigerator. She tossed them in an old cast iron skillet on the stove. Her mind wondered back to the other occupant of the house.

He'd cut his hair off, again, something she was glad to see, she hated it when he looked scruffy, it meant the animal was mostly in control. It reminded her of the years after her mother died and they'd nearly lost him to it. He still reached for the mark on his neck, and Kat wondered why the scar was still there. She knew she'd have to discuss it with her uncle someday, but right now he was out of pocket, and would be until he could get his memories back.

She wondered how she was going to tell him she'd taken a job in Brazil. He needed her, but so did the kids at the school. It was a private school in the highlands, bordering on the rainforest. A big ranch that provided a private school for the employee's children. It was a excellent opportunity, and Mrs. de la Cruz seemed to think she'd be an excellent fit as their math teacher.

She was thinking about the job and almost burned the steaks. She quickly flipped them and let her mind wander again.

"Damn it, Cub, I like mine rare." He grabbed the skillet from her hand.

"Sorry, Dad. Just thinking about work." He dumped the steaks on two plates and handed her the smaller one. He dropped onto one of the steel stools at the island and dug in to his meal.

"D'ja find anything?" He said around a mouth full of meat. The fork and knife looked small in his hands.

"Actually, I got a call from the agency. It's not easy to find a teaching job as a mutant these days, but they had a really good job they thought I'd be perfect for."

"Okay, so what's the bad news?" He glared across the island, stuffing another nearly raw piece of meat into his mouth. She cut a piece off her steak and licked her lips before taking the bite, savoring the heat of the blood as it filled her mouth with each bite into the flesh. She never, ever, let herself actually taste it, not from something living...this was as close as she was ever going to get to satisfying the blood lust that rose in her sometimes.

"Its in Brazil." she said finally, swallowing the meat and cutting another piece.

"No!" He growled.

"Dad, I'm thirty five years old, you don't have a say on the jobs I take. I'm an adult now." She started.

"It's too far away. I haven't had any contacts down there in years. It would take me six months to a year to set up a good exit plan if you get into trouble." He started.

"Dad, its teaching math at a 'rancho'. The owners provide a school for their employees kids, there's not been any trouble there in - well God knows when because I sure haven't been able to find anything."

"What's the 'rancho'?" She knew what he was asking, who owned it.

"Some family named de la Cruz, they've lived there almost three hundred years or more. There's some rumors that they were there before the Spanish came, but those are rumors I'm sure. Maybe they married into a tribe there or something, but the place has been in the same family all this time. Very established, and very exclusive. Some of the best beef in Brazil comes off this ranch."

He growled, but gave her a grudging nod. She'd done her homework, and he approved, at least of that much.

"Mort's gonna fly you down-and stay. I don't want you down there without an escape plan."

"Dad, Mort's got Jenny and Pam to worry about, he doesn't need to look after your grown daughter when he's got a three year old running around. I was gonna ask if he could fly me down, but really - I'll be fine."

"Famous last words." He growled. She shrugged.

"You're determined to do this?"

"Yes, Dad."

"Fine...regular deal then. I won't work where you do."

"I'd appreciate that...I don't want my Dad's dead bodies to cause me problems."

He actually grinned at that. "So, are you already packed?"

"I was planning on leaving tomorrow."

"I just got home." This time he actually whined. She knew something was wrong. He never showed any signs of pain, it was just to frail.

"Dad, come on, I mean really..."

"I've missed ya, Cub."

"I'll come home on breaks...you've been so busy the last few years I figured you didn't need me taking care of you anymore."

"I need it...but you don't. It's time you found a mate of your own, Cub."

"Dad...like any guy is going to meet your standards. Shit I've got Toad for a Godfather, Sabretooth for a father, and Wolverine for an Uncle...NO man I find is going to fit into this family."

He just grinned and chuckled again. "At least let me send some cash with you...?"

She hated taking any of his money, not that she cared how he earned it, but it just didn't feel right. She wanted to make it on her own, not have Daddy swoop in to the rescue if she fell flat on her face. However, this was Brazil..."Make it American Dollars and Krugerrands."

He nodded. This was the longest conversation they'd had since he'd been home, and probably one of the last they'd have for a while, but it felt right, like home. She smiled and gathered his empty plate up and dropped it in the sink.

"You've got dishes." He growled from the back of the house and she grinned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He stood watching the herd, the gaucho's moving them from one summer pasture to another. Nicolas stood at his side, watching the movement with emotionless eyes.

"Zacharius, the herds are growing well this year." He said. Zacharias simply nodded. He wasn't pleased, he wasn't anything, empty, cold, without emotion as he had been for almost eighteen hundred years. "We should begin culling for the ones we want to send to market."

"I will leave that in your hands." They both watched as the thunder clouds grew in the west, the driving rain an omen to the gauchos and their families of something dangerous in the winds.

"Something is coming." They said in unison, without even a start of surprise, an emotion neither one of them could feel until the light to their darkness was exposed. Zacharias felt the burden of keeping them going, the weight on his shoulders. He would wait, only Nicolas and Manilito remained, once they found their lifemates he would go into the dawn. He knew there could be no light for the darkness in his soul, it was only his duty to his family that kept him standing, kept him strong for them.

"Manilito has found his lifemate, but has not claimed her." Nicolas said.

"I received the same message. I trust his judgment in this, he will bring her into our world at the right time."

"It is just you and me, left to fight the darkness." Nicolas said.

"Until you find your light, and then I will go to the dawn."

"No, if Manilito can find one, you can." Nicolas said, but there was no warmth in his words, no hope, only empty platitudes.

"Perhaps."

Zacharias dissolved into mist, patrolling the lands they'd controlled for countless centuries. He was obligated to his people to keep them safe, obligated to his brothers to keep them from turning Vampire, to help them hold out until they could feel and see color once more. He looked back at Nicolas on the balcony of the house, and could see how close the darkness encroached on his brother's soul. Nicolas must find his light soon, or he would turn, and it would be Zacharias' duty to destroy what once he loved.

He couldn't even wish to feel that emotion again, he barely remembered feeling it at all, but to once more feel the love for his family was something he couldn't even dream of.

He had things to do. Colby had arranged for a new math teacher for the school, some of the women were preparing her a hacienda near the school building and he wanted to ensure nothing was left to chance. The family was famous for its hospitality to those that were in its employ and he would not let anything tarnish his families reputation.

Tomorrow evening, Nicolas would take the jeep into town, to the small air-strip, a helicopter from Sao Paulo would land, leaving the new teacher waiting for a ride to the Rancho de la Cruz. Perhaps, she would be Nicolas' light. He had hopes. The ad Colby had fashioned, before going to the Celebration was designed to bring only a woman who had the chance of being a lifemate to one of the de la Cruz brothers. Now that Manilito had found his, there was only one left, and Zacharias could lay down his burdens knowing none of his brothers would ever turn undead.


	2. Chapter 2

Dark Metamorphosis 2

This has been rolling around for weeks, and to my regular readers, yes am totally distracted but hope to be back to my usual shenanigans soon.

I normally hate crossovers but this one won't leave me alone. Christine Feehan owns everything Carpathian and Marvel comics owns everything X-Men I only own my poor little traumatized OC. Wink.

Picks up while the de la Cruz brothers are in Romania for Dark Celebration.

Zacharias de la Cruz/OC

XXXXXXXXXXX

Kat cursed in three languages as the small helicopter rocked in the wind. If it hadn't been Toad at the controls she'd have asked to turn back, but she knew he wanted to get home in time for Pam's birthday party. It was hard to imagine her cranky Godfather as a cute cuddly 'Pappa', but he was. He couldn't stop talking about Pam's latest antics and it was driving her a little nuts. How had her dad put up with him for so long? All she wanted was some peace and quiet.

He spotted the strip below them and maneuvered the small craft down to somewhat bumpy landing. She didn't wait for him to shut down, just grabbed her two suitcases and the metal briefcase her father had sent with her, and jumped down to the ground. Ducking under the rotating blades she ran through the pelting rain and lightning as Mort waved from the helo and took off again. She knew he would be safe, nothing fazed him, not even a bad lightning storm.

She looked around through the rain, but it was her nose that found the vehicle sitting under a shelter.

"Hello, I'm Katherine Creed." She held out her hand to the gentleman leaning on the hood. His dark hair was pulled back in a long tail behind him and she could see it trying to curl in the damp weather. He just grunted and picked up her bags and put them in the back of the jeep.

"Nicolas de la Cruz." he said simply. He didn't say a word for the entire drive. It was a wet, miserable drive, the jeep's top had been left off, and by the time they reached the gates of the main rancho she felt like she was swimming instead of riding in a car. Her bags were soaked, she was soaked, and she knew wet was not her best look...her dad always called her a drowned cat when she was wet, and he was right. Her hair stuck to her and she was nothing but big golden brown eyes and full lips covered with her tawny mane. She'd actually styled it this morning before taking the helo down, but that had been a total waste of time.

He stopped the vehicle in front of a small house and jumped out and grabbed all three of her bags. She gasped. The metal case was heavy even for her, with almost a million and a half dollars worth of South American coins in it, but he didn't seem to notice. She watched the muscle moving under his wet shirt and realized that evidently the de la Cruz brothers worked the rancho as well as owned it. He was lean muscle, and she tried to hide a grin as he held the door to the small house open for her. Nope, nothing to compare to her dad, or even her uncle, but not bad looking she supposed.

"This is where you will be staying. My sister-in-law is out of the country at the moment visiting relatives back home, they should be home within the month. The school session doesn't start for three weeks." His voice and eyes were cold, calculating, and she couldn't suppress a shiver. She would hate to meet him in a dark alley, she knew she'd survive, but it would be close. She watched him move almost silently to the door, "If there is anything you need, Maria is in charge of domestic issues within the hacienda." He pulled the door closed behind him and she let out a snort of disgust. He could have at least taken her hand, showed some warmth at least to a visitor.

Maybe he didn't want her here? She took that sobering thought, no even if he didn't, his sister-in-law hired her. She wasn't going to let some male chauvinist make her feel unwelcome.

She opened her bags and groaned. Even though they were supposed to be waterproof, everything was soaked. She pulled out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and looked around for a sink or a bathroom. She saw a small door and pushed it open, and her mouth dropped in surprise.

It was a full modern bathroom with a sunken bath tub and even a small washer and dryer off to the side so she could do her own laundry. Maybe she was welcome after all. She wrung the jeans and top out over the sink and threw them in the dryer. She turned on the water in the tub and tried not to imagine her dad's grin. He LOVED big bath tubs he could really soak in, and this was one he'd love. She started to strip out of her blouse, tossing it on top of the washing machine, and was reaching to unfasten her bra when she heard a knock at the door. She wrapped a towel around her top and stuck her nose out the bathroom door.

"Who is it?"

"Maria, Senhorita." An older woman with sun-darkened skin and a large smile walked in the main door of the small house. "Senhor de la Cruz wants to make sure you are comfortable."

"That jerk that just left me here?" Kat bit her tongue. That wasn't the way to get off on the right foot.

"No, Senhorita, Senhor Zacarias...he is the eldest brother."

"Oh...well you can tell him thank you, this is amazing and far more than I expected. I'm just drying off from the rain, and getting some dry clothes."

"Allow me," She closed the suitcases, clicking her tongue as she picked them up. "I will take these to the main laundry and have everything back to you by morning."

"No, really..." but the woman was already gone. Kat shook her head. Things moved fast in this place, that was for sure.

She closed the bathroom door again and looked at the tub. It was just too inviting...she finished stripping out of her wet clothes and climbed down into the swirling whirlpool of water. She relaxed into the hot water, secretly enjoying one of her father's vices...a long hot bath. She heard a knock on the outer door and debated getting out of the tub. The bathroom door swung open and her silent driver stood there.

"Don't you knock?"

"Maria said your clothes were in need of care, I put one of my sister-in-law Juliette's dressing gowns on the bed." His eyes didn't even register that she was naked. What the hell was wrong with him. She felt a pressure in her mind, and pushed back. He could be a cold fish, but she wasn't letting any telepath into her mind, not after growing up hiding from the most powerful one in the world. His eyes widened, then narrowed and he bowed in an old world kind of way, and walked out the door. She heard his voice from the other room.

"The household is mostly nocturnal. You may keep whatever schedule you wish, but many of the gauchos and their families keep the same schedule, and your classes will be afternoons and evenings. Young Paul and Ginny will join your classes, Colby's brother and sister."

"Thank you for the heads up. I prefer a nocturnal schedule myself, daylight makes my eyes hurt." It did, it always had. Her mother's mutation had more animal characteristics, and she's inherited the avoidance of daylight from her. Her dad, he didn't care, but she knew he'd been happiest when he'd lived her mother's schedule with her.

She heard the outer door close and let out a small splash of annoyance, slapping the water with her extended claws. That man could really get on her nerves. If all the brothers were like him, she was calling Mort tomorrow and going home. She had enough of cold blooded bastards around her house, she really did. Her dad fit the bill, and she didn't have to try to think about him without his clothes on.

XXXXXXXXXX

"The new teacher is getting settled in her hacienda." Nicolas said.

"I am going to ride out with the goucho tonight, we're moving the north herd to the north east pasture. I will be gone a few weeks." Zacharias said, he wanted to feel disappointment that his brother hadn't found his mate, but he was empty.

"Perhaps you should..." Nicolas said.

"No...I have work to do."

Nicolas just nodded and walked away.

Zacharias could feel something tugging on him, pulling him toward the small houses the hacienda employees used, but he ignored it. His duty was to his family and right now that meant being on the range, collecting the herd and moving it to greener pastures.

XXXXXXXXX

Kat roamed the rancho for the first week. She met many of her new students, but it was like a pal was over the place, like something was waiting to pounce. She was constantly looking over her shoulder. She kept finding Nicolas there, observing her with his cold eyes. She'd been tempted, twice, to turn the tables on him and stalk him around the place for a while, but she didn't want to make her differences too well known.

She observed the way life moved within the confines of the rancho walls...and was surprised. She knew Brazil was very patriarchal, and it amazed her to see young women working with the cattle and horses alongside the men.

"That is Consuela, she is my oldest. She is a veterinarian, the Senhors de la Cruz paid for all her school, and she wanted to come back here to work. They pay her well for her work, and her daughter will be in your class." Maria said, as she walked up to Kat. "Many of the young girls of the Rancho have gone to university paid for by the Senhors de la Cruz. They take good care of their people."

"I see that. I can't wait to meet the rest of them. Nicolas seems a bit of a cold fish." She said.

"Si. Senhor Nicolas carries a darkness in him, we all watch it grow and worry about him. He will find his light, soon. Donna Margarita says it will be so."

"Donna Margarita?"

"She is la profeta...she sees things."

"Ahh...a precognative?"

"I do not know this word."

"It's someone who can see into the future, or what the probable future will be." Kat explained.

"Si."

"I wouldn't mind meeting her." Another mutant around might be nice, if she even had any idea she was a mutant.

"Donna is very old...she has been with the de la Cruz brothers for many years. I will see if she will see you."

"Thank you."

"Senhoras de la Cruz will be home this evening. Senhora Colby wanted you to meet her brother Paul and sister Ginny at the main house."

Kat nodded. Maria strolled off, her message delivered, and Kat wandered around aimlessly until she was back at her little house. She decided to clean up, she was meeting the boss.

XXXXXXXXXX

"What do you mean she's already here?" Colby asked.

"She arrived a week ago, the same day Zacharias went to the north pastures." Nicolas said. He wished he could feel something for his beautiful sister-in-law, and tried to give her at least the motions, for her sake.

"Did he meet her? I mean you have and obviously she's not your lifemate. That means she has to be his."

"He had herd to move." Nicolas said.

"That idiot. Get him here. Now." Colby was flushed, and Rafael was laughing.

_"I will call my brother, my love. I too wish to see his reaction to this teacher of yours."_

_"She's meant for him, I just know it."_

The children ran into the room, Paul chasing Ginny who was holding a rolled up paper in her hand.

"YOU can't have it. Manilito gave it to me." She said.

"I just want to read it. Its a new X-Men...come on...I want to see this new character, WildeCat."

"NO! Manilito said she reminded him of me, that's why he gave it to ME!"

"ENOUGH!" Rafael said, trying to smother the laughter.

"It's mine." Ginny said, not the least bit intimidated by her sister's lifemate.

"Then when you are finished reading it, loan it to your brother so he can, and he will return it to you without damage." Rafael said reasonably.

Ginny sniffled. Colby could see she was tired from the long trip. She nodded, and stalked off to bed. Paul grumbled, but grabbed another comic from the pile Manilito had bought for the children and went to his room.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Kat stretched from her nap. The sun was setting and she knew she needed to head up to the main house and finally meet her employer.

She walked in just as a young boy was trying to take a comic book away from his sister. She groaned as she heard the name WildeCat. She was NEVER going to live that down. She opened the door as the children exited another door.

"You must be Katherine. I really enjoyed our conversation. I didn't expect you here this early." Colby de la Cruz held out both hands and shook Kat's firmly. Her husband stood behind her and Kat suddenly felt much more comfortable with the de la Cruzes...he actually knew how to smile, and shake her hand. He didn't even flinch at her claw like fingernails, and she couldn't help smiling brightly in return.

"I've enjoyed the time to get to know the rancho and its inhabitants, it will make it easier when I am in front of the children in class if they think they know me already."

"Very true." A voice said from the doorway behind her. She turned around and was captured by his steel grey eyes...as dark as her fathers, and just as expressive...and full of surprise.

"Zacharias, we thought you were in the north range."

"I was, I heard you and the children had returned..." His voice faded, his eyes never leaving hers, and Kat couldn't bring herself to break the stare. She started to feel something that had only ever been described to her, a tightening of the muscles in her neck, a deep burning heat spreading through her body, and her fangs lengthening in her mouth, wanting to grab his neck muscle and hold on until her mark would never leave his flesh.

She vaguely heard a door close behind her and realized they were the last two people in the room.

XXXXXXXXXXX

He was walking up the stairs when he heard her voice, and felt a lance of heat straight through his body, burning open things left dead and withered for over eighteen hundred years. He opened the door, not expecting the reaction to nearly bring him to his knees. When she turned to face him, no matter how many times his brothers had shared with him the moment of finding his lifemate, he couldn't have expected this.

It was like two separate reactions...one, the burst of color as he looked into her golden eyes, her tawny hair pulled back at the base of her neck, her cheeks flushed peach and gold. Her intake of breath surprised him...as did the tightening of his neck. He'd never felt that in anything his brothers had shared with him. The need to bite, yes, but not to rend, and tear flesh until his mark was permanent on her body.

She smelled like something wild, not a Jaguar, but something else...just as primal, just as feral, but perfect for him. He stepped toward her, his hand reaching out, as if she couldn't be real. He had to touch her.

"I'm Katherine Creed." She whispered, her fingers brushing his cheek, flicking a piece of dried mud from his face. He hadn't even bothered to clean up from the hard ride with the gauchos.

"Zacharias de la Cruz." He took her hand from his cheek gently and kissed her knuckles, her scent invading him completely. He would know her anywhere, now. And soon, she would be his, completely.


	3. Chapter 3

Dark Metamorphosis 2

This has been rolling around for weeks, and to my regular readers, yes am totally distracted but hope to be back to my usual shenanigans soon.

I normally hate crossovers but this one won't leave me alone. Christine Feehan owns everything Carpathian and Marvel comics owns everything X-Men I only own my poor little traumatized OC. Wink.

Picks up while the de la Cruz brothers are in Romania for Dark Celebration.

Zacharias de la Cruz/OC

XXXXXXXXXXX

She shook her head slightly, more to close her eyes and escape the mezmorization of his. She could feel him pressing on her telepathically, what were these people. All of them seemed to have some kind of telepathic ability. She knew the mate bond created an empathic bond between mates, but never before the marks were in place. She needed her father here, needed his knowledge of feral mating to understand completely what was going on.

She didn't want to insult him by pulling away completely, but she could feel his constant pressure against the barriers in her mind.

"I'm really grateful for the chance to work with the children here." She said softly.

"That is Colby's doing. She felt they needed more math and science available." He said softly, his thumb rubbing over the knuckles of her hand as he clutched it to his chest. He shouldn't be this affected by the mating bond, it hit females harder, at least according to her dad. It put the female in an uncontrollable heat, and if the male did not respond she had to suffer until her heat passed.

"_Do not be afraid, Minha pequena, I have no choice to respond to such beauty."_

_"SHIT! How the hell did you get in here?"_

_"Your mental barriers are formidable, but no match for me." _she felt him chuckle in her mind. It was a sultry, husky sound that burned down her spine and deep into the raging heat building low in her gut.

"That's rude, you know. Going into another person's mind without their permission." She said aloud.

He chuckled again, and this time his eyes lit up with his humor. She tried to bite back the groan, but it escaped her lips anyway. He leaned forward, and it was like she had no control over her own body. She met him halfway, their lips brushing softly, before he took over in a dominant, possessive kiss that burned him onto her heart and body. He was her mate. Suddenly the impact of that hit her, and her response to him became wild and frantic. She needed him, needed his flesh in her teeth, needed his body merged with hers to make her complete.

She'd begged for the bond her parents had, pleaded with whatever being was out there to grant her the passion and love she'd seen growing up...not that anyone would have believed her. Now it was here, in her grasp. She just didn't know if he could accept it. He wasn't a feral. She knew that by his scent, but he wasn't exactly human either.

That was when it hit her...none of the de la Cruz family was. They all smelled different, but not like a mutant, and old, well the men. The one woman she'd met smelled more human and less like the other, but that was changing.

"What are you?" She gasped when her mouth was free to breathe.

"What are you?" He asked in return...his eyes glowing with a passion she wanted to see for all time.

"A mutant...feral. Enhanced senses, reflexes, retractable claws and a healing factor. Your turn." She growled.

He laughed...then paused.

"What is a healing factor?"

"I heal...anything...we haven't been able to find anything that can come close to killing me. I got it from my father."

His eyes went distant for a moment, but then he smiled and she couldn't help but smile back.

"I am a Carpathian." he said it as if it explained everything, and to her it did. She'd never encountered one before but she'd heard of them. It made sense...his scent of age, not smelling human, and his ability to get past her barriers.

"Well...shit." She said, and he looked confused.

"I wasn't expecting that reaction. Confusion maybe, a need for further explanation, but not...that."

"You don't understand, my father...well he's..." Suddenly the two children were in the room arguing.

"You finished it...I want to read it. Ginny, please."

"It's MINE. Manilito gave it specifically to me. Uncle Zacharias, he'll tear it up and I want to keep it." She watched as he turned to the children, affection glowing in his face, and humor as well.

"Why don't you have your new teacher read it to you both." He suggested.

Ginny looked up at her. "That might work."

Kat moaned. "Anything but that, please. What are you trying to do torture me?"

They laughed, but she was serious. She was going to have to talk to Stan about that particular issue. It painted her in a really bad light. She wasn't a part of the Brotherhood, never had been. It hadn't been her fault their battle overflowed into the school where she was teaching. It hadn't been her fault that her father had been there, and after years of his training it was just habit to fall in next to him to fight.

Paul was the first one to notice she wasn't laughing. "You don't like X-men?"

"Actually, I'm pretty neutral about the whole thing...THAT was an accident and NEVER should have made it to print" She pointed at the offending comic.

"What?" Both kids looked at her puzzled.

"Listen, don't believe everything you read in those things...Stan only gets it right about half the time." She said.

"You know Stan Lee?"

"We've met in passing. He has a contract with my father to use him in the comics. He's been trying to get me to sign one but I absolutely refuse. I'm a teacher, not a piece of fiction."

Paul's look of confusion vanished and was replaced with something that worried her more, adulation.

"You're IN the comics...they're real?" She tried to pull her hand away from Zacharias, but he wouldn't let her go. Ginny caught the subtle movements and suddenly grinned.

"Here take the stupid comic, and leave Uncle Zach and our new teacher alone." Kat was puzzled at her sudden switch in behavior?

Xxxxxxx

Zacharias laughed at Ginny's remark. She was a very perceptive little girl. He was curious why his lifemate reacted so violently to a harmless children's illustrated magazine, but he would get his answers in time. Her barriers were indeed formidable, he'd managed to breach them once but they were back in place and twice as strong.

He also wanted to know how she knew of his people. Few outside their own race had been entrusted with that knowledge.

"You're really WildeCat, see it even looks like you." Paul said as he ran back into the room. "Could you sign this for us."

Kat seemed ready to collapse, or explode, and either situation would be dangerous to her health in his opinion.

"Paul, we will discuss it another time, my lifemate is weary of the subject." Zacharias said firmly. He could feel Kat stiffen through the hand he still held captive.

"I don't need anyone..." He silenced her the best way he could, and didn't ignore the disgusted reaction of his young brother-in-law either as he ran from the room.

"Sheish, they're all doppy..."

He eased her to one of the sofas in the room, his lips never leaving hers, the words of binding pounding against his will to be released. He had time, and many questions to be answered before he took that final step.

She pulled away from him reluctantly, and sat slowly down, her hand still caught in his, this time she was the one clinging.

"Okay, no more of that 'til I get some answers." She said.

"I have questions of my own.". He said, sitting still on the sofa next to her. Still was the last thing he wanted to be at the moment. His body was raging fire, ready to claim what was his, but there were other feelings, strong and demanding he claim her in a different way. It was a conflict, and his newly awakened emotions were not making it easy to concentrate on the important things.

"It's your house, you first." she said, her eyes downcast, the fingers of her free hand tracing the pattern of the fabric with the sharp tips of her fingernails, or should he call them claws.

"Claws, actually." She said softly, and he couldn't help but grin, she'd touched his mind.

"How are you able to block me?" It wasn't the first question he wanted to ask, but the first one that slipped out of his mouth.

"There's this guy, in New York, that's a strong telepath, so strong he's been able to cheat death at least once. I went to school there for a while, and after having a nosy telepath in your head regularly, you learn to block him out. Being a feral and having a slightly different brain pattern helps too."

"How do you know about my people?"

"That's easy. My dad."

"Your father is Carpathian?" He couldn't believe any Carpathian male could reproduce without his lifemate, there had been rumors and Razvan had done it with the aid of Magic, Colby was proof of that, but a normal Carpathian hunter with no emotion...it was impossible.

"No, My dad's a feral mutant like me. He's worked with a few Carpathians and told me about them." She was looking at him, half smiling and he wanted to hold her close, but he needed answers and if he held her, at this rate, their wouldn't be any talking going on, even mentally.

"How...?" he started but she anticipated the question.

"He's what you'd call a gun for hire...only he hates guns, well doesn't hate them, more like thinks they are a coward's way to end a fight. He's been hired a few times to kill something bothering someone - and it turned out to be a Vampire both times with Carpathian hunters on its tail...the first time was an accident and he didn't really know what they were." He wished she'd stop to take a breath. "The second time, the Vampire in question was taunting him about not being one, which always pisses my dad off, and the Carpathians kept trying to protect him...can you believe it, like my dad was in danger, which he wasn't because he's one of the strongest feral mutants alive, he's over two hundred years old already and has done..."

This time he forced her to take a breath, his lips brushing hers until she was forced to take a deep breath.

"I was rambling, wasn't I?" She blushed. "I do that when I get nervous. My mother did too..."

"Yes, you did, and it was quite informative." He'd passed the information to Nicolas, who had passed it on to Gregori and Mikhial and received confirmation that Aidan Savage had indeed met a man matching that description, at least twice, while on hunts. And that he'd been quite effective - and honorable - during both fights. "Your father is considered a friend to one of our hunters."

"Oh, good, because he was really impressed by the ones he's met, and he's hard to impress. He's not the bad guy Stan makes him out to be. I mean yeah he's an assassin, and actually loves his work, but that's the feral hunter in him. My uncle has the same traits but he gets treated as a hero and it's so unfair..." He chuckled this time and she blushed and stuttered to a stop.

"I'm doing it again." he just nodded.

"Minha pequena, it is quite endearing."

"Just so you know, I don't put up with my dad being an overprotective party pooper, I'm not going to put up with it out of my mate. We'll but heads about it." She glared at him, but he just smiled.

"I will do what I think is necessary for your safety and wellbeing, and you will accept that, in time." He slowly worked his body closer to hers, until somehow she ended up in his lap, her head resting on his shoulder. Even he wasn't sure how that happened but he wasn't going to change anything, at least until he could get them both undressed and alone.

"Why do you keep trying to get into my head?" She asked softly.

"You are my lifemate, my mind will always reach for yours, to know you are safe, and happy, and healthy...even if you resist, it will find a way. I am trying not to force it at the moment, I have no desire to hurt you in any way."

He was surprised by her throaty laugh, it burned its way straight through him and he felt his fangs lengthening in his mouth, the words of binding pounding in his brain. He actually missed the first part of her next question.

"...be a pretty ornament, because I was trained by my dad and can take care of myself?"

"I fully expect you to use your gifts in ways that make you happy. One of my sisters-in-law hunts Jaguar...my brother has only requested that he accompany her and see to her safety on these hunts." His lips brushed her temple. She didn't need to know of the many fights and pure chaos that particular pairing brought to the household.

He felt her shiver, and immediately began to scan her body for illness, what he found shocked him. She'd mentioned being able to heal, but this was amazing. No Carpathian could heal like this...her very body resisted even his scan, seeing it as an intrusion. He felt a moment of panic. What if he couldn't convert her, what if her own body made it impossible.


	4. Chapter 4

Dark Metamorphosis 4

This has been rolling around for weeks, and to my regular readers, yes am totally distracted but hope to be back to my usual shenanigans soon.

I normally hate crossovers but this one won't leave me alone. Christine Feehan owns everything Carpathian and Marvel comics owns everything X-Men I only own my poor little traumatized OC. Wink.

Picks up while the de la Cruz brothers are in Romania for Dark Celebration.

Zacharias de la Cruz/OC

XXXXXXXXXXX

Kat looked up at him through her lashes. He was upset about something, she could feel it. She didn't think the bond was supposed to form until he'd marked her, but somehow it was there. She'd felt something warm trying to enter her body and pushed it out. She didn't know what its intentions were, or who was probing but she'd had enough of that the one year her dad had sent her to Xavier's.

That's when she'd discovered she hated telepaths, always sticking their noses and minds where they didn't belong.

"Minha pequena, I think it is time for bed." He whispered against her hair, his voice caressing her like soft velvet. She knew he wasn't talking about sleep, his far too obvious arousal pressing into her side was enough evidence of that. Her own body was screaming at her to not wait for a bedroom and damn anyone that walked in, but she'd been taught from a young age not to let her animal control her, even when in heat. And if he didn't stop pushing at her mind she was going to slap him.

"Right, I'll head back to my cottage now. I will meet the rest of the family another time." She started to stand, but his fingers that still held her hand tightened like a vice.

"We still have much to discuss." He said firmly and she felt him trying to press against her mind again, this time to compel her to stay.

"Yes, we do, but right now is not a good time. We can talk tomorrow." She said simply, still trying to free her hand. Instead he rose and stood towering over her. She felt something she wasn't used to, something her dad had trained out of her at an early age, fear. She was hearing faint voices, concerned voices asking if everything was alright and did he need help. She shook her head - too damned many telepaths in this place.

"I am truly sorry, minha pequena," He said softly, brushing her lips with his. "I wanted privacy for this, but if you insist..." He deepened the kiss, her entire body felt like it was going up in flames. She moaned as his lips left hers and trailed feather-light kisses from the corner of her mouth and down her throat. She could feel his teeth grazing the tendons down her throat, just over the pulse that was racing there, her mind was beginning to haze with the power of his touch, and the power of her own burning need. She felt him graze his teeth again, brushing her hair out of the way to kiss the taut muscles at the base of her neck, and she felt her knees weaken. He had one arm around her waist and simply held her gently as he laid her back on the sofa.

"Someone could..." She started to whisper, but felt him whisper against her neck "No one would dare."

His teeth grazed over her pulse again, as if he was pulled in two directions. She wanted him to mark her and get it over with, her body was on fire and she needed the pain to either let it consume her - or put it out. She gasped as his teeth bit deep, right into her artery. The flames licking her body became stronger pushing her closer to a brink she'd only ever imagined before.

She let out a little whimper as his tongue licked over where he'd bit, knowing it wouldn't scar...she needed the scar, the physical manifestation of their bond. "Bite me damn it!" She growled, her own fangs lengthening ready to taste his blood and flesh.

She felt him shake his head as he pulled back. "Not yet." He whispered. He leaned up, above her and opened his shirt, one of his fingers slicing into a vein in his chest. "Drink, you won't let me compel you, but I am begging." He whispered harshly. She could see a deep struggle within him and leaned up to lick the trail of blood running down his chest. Her entire body reacted as if it had been slammed to the ground, but she held on, taking blood directly from the wound. She heard him, this time his voice firm and demanding.

"I claim you as my lifemate. I belong to you. I offer my life for you. I give you my protection, my allegiance, my heart, my soul, and my body. I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life, happiness, and welfare will be cherished and placed above my own for all time. You are my lifemate, bound to me for all eternity and always in my care."

She could feel something changing inside her, not from the blood but from the words he was speaking. It was like a small, fine mesh of energy weaving through her defenses and grabbing her mind and soul and tying it to something matching within him. The emptiness she'd always felt, even among her own kind was gone and in its place there was only him. She let out a sigh of contentment, her head responding to his gentle pull to separate her mouth from his chest. She watched as the wound slowly closed, still not leaving a mark.

She whimpered softly, knowing this wasn't completed, not by a long shot. She still had to mark him, make him her mate, and he had to mark her. They were bound yes, she could feel him in her mind and knew he would always be there, but she was still missing the bond her mutation needed with its mate. She gently kissed his chest, licking gently the V at the base of his throat, kissing softly until she reached that muscle at the back of his neck. Her fangs scraped over it, lightly drawing blood and he hissed.

"What are you...?" He started to whisper, as her mouth opened and she bit hard and deep into his neck. She felt him bucking, and suddenly their clothes were gone, and they were pressed skin to skin as his hands held her hips still, and he surged deep inside her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, not even feeling the slight pain as he ripped through her barrier, her mouth was again full of his hot blood, the flesh of his neck ground under her teeth to leave a deep and lasting mark. She felt his fingers push her hair aside, his mouth on the muscle in her neck and she whimpered around the flesh in her mouth, begging him to bite her.

He was thrusting deep inside, and she knew she wasn't going to hold out against his demanding pace, her body already trembling, the wave of ecstasy on the brink of cresting, but she knew she wouldn't be complete until he marked her. His teeth grazed the muscle and she felt him in her mind. _"Is this what you truly want, minha pequena?"_

_"Yes, damn it, BITE ME!"_ she roared in response. She felt his confusion, but then she felt the blissful pain of his teeth sinking into her flesh, her body - her healing factor - accepting him as her mate as the flesh refused to heal until he was through feeding on her. It was barbaric, animalistic, but wasn't that what she was, an animal.

_"Never, you are a beautiful and sexy woman, not this animal you think you are."_ He whispered gently in her mind as her body finally reached the crest and she tumbled over, begging with soft whimpers for him to never leave, never stop_..."you have my word, Katherine Creed, you are my lifemate, we can never be apart, and I will always, always please my lifemate."_

She floated I'm bliss, his words, his very presence in her mind as natural as breathing. She couldn't remember why she'd fought so hard to keep him out.

When she was aware of her surroundings again she looked around in shock. She was in a very masculinly decorated room, deep under ground. She could smell the earth all around her, and somehow found it comforting. She didn't remember coming here, but somehow wasn't threatened by that either. She could hear water running in another room and slipped slowly, reluctantly from beneath the sheets. They were actually better quality sheets than she had at home. That was one thing she'd missed, her bed, finding her mate was worth it.

She pushed open the door to find her mate standing under a steaming hot shower, a look of pure joy and contentment on his face. She smiled. He looked as if he'd never taken a shower before.

_"I have, just never was able to feel the pleasure from it."_ He said softly in her mind, his touch tentative, as if not wanting to offend her.

She smiled and opened the door to the huge shower stall. _"I've always preferred baths, but I think I can make it even more pleasurable for you."_ She whispered back, knowing he was in her mind and could see what she had in mind. Just because she'd waited for her mate didn't mean she had no imagination.

He pulled her tight against his chest, his mouth finding hers, and the fires began to race across her nerves again. She didn't know if she'd ever get enough of him, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

She slowly kissed her way down his chest, she could feel the passion burning in him through their bond and smiled as the damp ends of her hair brushed against his straining flesh, and his hiss of breath as she moved lower, circling his navel with her tongue before blowing her breath softly along his shaft before licking his thighs. He moaned, his fingers tangling in her hair as her hand gripped his thigh then slipped up his skin to feel the already taunt heaviness below. She let her tongue trace the veins of his shaft until she reached the straining tip, his flesh moving of its own accord. Her lips enclosed him and she felt his fingers tighten, his hips moving almost involuntarily, thrusting deep and she let out a low almost purr.

His fingers tightened, holding her in place. She glanced up at him, his head thrown back in the stream of water, his hands in her hair the only thing holding him erect as her tongue stroked his hot flesh in her mouth, the bond between him letting her experience the pure erotic pleasure flowing through his body, causing hers to reach the same fever pitch as suddenly he was moving, pulling her up through the grip in her hair, He pulled her lips to his, his mouth devouring and demanding.

She lost herself to his mouth, his hands stroking her body, his fingers probing her, gauging her readiness, as he turned her, bracing her shoulders against the wall. She felt him through their bond as he slid into her velvet sheath, and her moans joined his as her legs wrapped around his waist, her head leaning against the wall as she closed her eyes and let her mind and body enjoy the demanding rhythm. She felt his lips on her throat, and the white hot lightning coursing through her body as his fangs pierced her sent her spiraling into ecstasy.

As his mouth withdrew and she felt his tongue gently swipe across his mark, her own fangs extended, and almost without conscious thought she leaned toward him. Finding his pulse with her tongue, she allowed herself to bite deeply, his hot blood filling her mouth again. Her body felt energized as she drank deeply from him, another course of white hot lightning pushing her over another crest. He had to slip a hand between her face and his throat to stop her, and she felt his body relax against her. She whimpered but obeyed his mental command to stop.

"_Minha pequena, we must rest soon." _He whispered in her head. She nodded slowly, lowering her legs to the floor. The water was still flowing and he eased her under the spray. She let the hot water flow over her still sensitive flesh, her legs trembling, barely supporting her as he ran a soft cloth, with a fragrant soap, over her body. She moaned as the cloth brushed her still sensitive nipples. She felt her body tremble as the slightly cooler cloth brushed her still burning core, her hands resting on his shoulders as her knees gave out again.

He reached past her trembling body and turned off the water. She pulled herself together and turned to reach for a towel. She heard his moan, and felt him slid up against her back, his body already needing her again as he eased her thighs apart. She felt him slip into her still throbbing core and she moaned. This time he was slow, tender, his mouth licking her back. The burn this time was slow, but as sensitive as her flesh was it wasn't long until she was crying out in pleasure again.

He lifted her gently and carried her to the bed. She felt him pull the sheets over her and her body relaxed into the mattress. He lay next to her and she felt weariness overcome her and drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Dark Metamorphosis 5

This has been rolling around for weeks, and to my regular readers, yes am totally distracted but hope to be back to my usual shenanigans soon.

For you X-men Readers - if you think I'm going to leave my favorite Feral hanging in the wind you've got another thing coming...Plenty of Victor action in this one.

I normally hate crossovers but this one won't leave me alone. Christine Feehan owns everything Carpathian and Marvel comics owns everything X-Men I only own my poor little traumatized OC. Wink.

Picks up while the de la Cruz brothers are in Romania for Dark Celebration.

Zacharias de la Cruz/OC

XXXXXXXXXXX 

He didn't quite know what to make of her, his lifemate, his mate. He could feel the ages old bonding of his people, but there was something else as well. His hand touched the place on his neck. He'd gone inside to heal it, but had not been able to get rid of the scar. He watched her body, his mind a shadow inside hers, her passion rising. He moved his hand away from the scar and she quieted in her sleep again.

The lifemate bond was as natural as breathing to him, the comforting touch of her mind, even in sleep, gave him a deep contentment and joy, something he couldn't ever remember having before in his life. This other tie - bond - it was raw, not as complete as the lifemate bond, but just as essential to her body as the Carpathian bond was to his. He gently eased into her body, the healing energy looking for any signs of distress or pain, but found nothing, not even any residual soreness.

A loud buzzing noise distracted him and he was suddenly back within his own body. She was moving, slowly, reaching toward the buzzing noise. When he'd brought her down to his chambers, he'd recreated her clothing and folded it neatly on the bench at the end of his bed, and from the sound of it, her cell phone.

"Where's my phone." She asked groggily.

He sat up and grabbed her jeans, digging the phone out of a pocket. He handed it to her.

"Hello?" She said. He heard a deep male voice on the other end and let out a low growl, his eyes covered by a haze of red.

"Kitten, are you alright? I've been calling for two hours straight."

"Yeah, Dad, I'm fine, I was asleep."

"I taught you better than that, and who the hell is that growling in the background? If anyone's hurt you I'll rip their throat out." Zacharias could hear the answering growl through the phone. He relaxed against the pillows. It was just her father. He could handle this.

"Dad, I don't want to talk about it right now. I'm really sleepy." _Great sex will do that._ She whispered in Zacharias' mind. He chuckled low.

"KITTEN!" He heard the roar on the other end of the phone.

"Dad, get a grip, I'm thirty-five." She was laughing.

_He's such a big baby sometimes. I swear I wish he'd find another mate and settle down and raise another kid so he's not on my case all the time._

"Kitten, I don't care if you're thirty-five or thirty-five hundred, I'm still your father and you are going to explain who the hell is in bed with you, or I'm coming down there and causing some bloodshed."

"Dad, he's my mate." She said softly. Zacharias was amazed at the depth of feeling in those three words. He'd thought to have to woo her, court her. He felt a hard slap to the back of his head.

_Damned right you will...the physical part's easy, bonehead._ He chuckled out loud. Bonehead?

"Katherine, are you absolutely positive?" He heard concern in the other man's voice.

"Yes Daddy, scars and all. I'm positive."

"A CARPATHIAN!"

"Yes, Dad."

"Well...SHIT!"

"He's my...what was that...lifemate...too." She said, and Zacharias growled. She was his lifemate first, mate second, not the other way around. She was going to have to learn the order of things.

"Well double shit." Zacharias heard him moving around. "Anyway, that's not why I called. Where the hell did you put the garlic?"

"Dad..."

"I can't find shit in this kitchen. I think I'm going to move to the house in the Hamptons, just so I can cook myself a decent meal."

"Top shelf of the spice rack over the stove, on the left." She was trying hard not to laugh.

"Got it, thanks, baby. Go back to sleep now, and kick that Carpathian out of your bed."

"Not on your life, good night Dad."

She hung up the phone and burst out laughing.

"I swear, if his head wasn't screwed on he'd lose that to sometimes."

"He is just letting you know he needs you." Zacharias said. "Of course, not the way I need you." He slid his hand up her thigh.

"YOU need a cold shower." She laughed.

"Anything you say,Minha pequena." She squealed as he picked her up and carried her into the bathroom.

XXXXXXXXX 

Victor growled at the phone. She was grown up, and now mated, and he was alone again. He growled again softly. She'd mated a Carpathian of all things, hell he'd have been happier if she'd found a nice lycanthrope, or even one of those damned moody Jaguars but no, it had to be a damned emotionless, bloodsucking Carpathian...well Aiden wasn't as emotionless since he'd found Alexandra, but still...

He opened the lid to sprinkle some garlic on the steak he had sizzling in the skillet. He dumped the whole jar.

"GOD DAMNED SON OF A BITCH!" He threw the hot cast iron skillet across the room. "Stupid piece of crap" He threw the empty plastic bottle of garlic after it. His neck was hurting again, and he stormed into the downstairs bathroom to look at the mark on his neck. It not only wasn't fading, as it should have been since Amanda's death, but it was red and inflamed, almost like he'd been bitten again recently.

He felt a white hot lance of pain, enough that he nearly blacked out. In the gray area between waking and unconsciousness he had a flash of knowledge, of pain and suffering like he hadn't seen since he was a child, even worse than his own early childhood of drunken beatings and curses and torture. Whoever she was, she was bound by her wrists suspended, both shoulders dislocated from hanging in that position and jerking every time the whip struck. Her entire body was a mass of bleeding welts, closing slowly as her body tried to keep her alive. He could not see her face, it was covered by a tangle of dirty hair, but her body was young, or the perpetual youth that a high class healing factor could maintain. What shocked him was the mark on her neck, with the bleeding welt from the barbed whip crossing it.

He shook his head, and the vision faded. He suddenly knew he was moving to the Hamptons. She was somewhere on the East Coast and he was going to find her.

The smell of smoke and the blare of the smoke detectors had him running back to the kitchen.

"SHIT! FUCK! SHIT!" he roared as he ripped the blazing curtains down from the window. "Stupid frail shit, needed to come down anyway." He growled as he stomped out the flames and picked up the hot skillet. He grabbed the small extinguisher from under the sink and discharged the whole thing on the mess in the floor. Moving was definitely in his mind now. Kat would kill him for the scorch mark on the kitchen wall, but he didn't care. She could clean it up next time she was home...if she ever came home again.

That thought nearly took him to his knees. She was all he had, Amanda was gone, James didn't even know who he was, all he had was his little girl. He felt a tightness in his chest he'd only felt a few times, and shook his head. This wasn't going to take him down. There was a kid somewhere that needed him. He reached up, and let his fingers run over his scar, opening the pathway that he thought cut and destroyed with his mate's death. He allowed himself to send thoughts of comfort, and anger, and revenge through the bond, and felt a tentative answer...of fear and pain and resignation.

Whoever she was she needed him, needed him to save her, and show her that life wasn't always pain and fear. He grabbed the abandoned phone from the kitchen counter. He hit the button for the house on Long Island.

"Hello?"

"Annabell, it's Victor. Dust the place off."

"You're coming for a visit?"

"Sort of. I kinda almost burned the Seattle house down, so I'm moving till the smoke smell is out of the air." He growled softly.

She laughed. "Where's my granddaughter? She usually keeps you from burning things down?"

"Brazil." He growled again, this time with a hard edge.

"So she took the job, good for her. She needed her own space." She was chuckling still. He wasn't sure living with his mother-in-law was going to give him the peace he needed, but he needed the base on the coast to look for the person on the other end of his bond.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"That's fine. I'll have your room ready for you when you get here." She actually owned the house but preferred that people just thought of her as the housekeeper. He never could understand it, but if that was how she wanted to live the rest of her life, he let her. She was all the family he had left, and he didn't want to scare her off too. He felt a wave of despair , and mentally cut off the link. He had enough to deal with right now without trying to sooth someone he didn't know.

"I'll be there tomorrow." He said into the phone and hung up. He had no idea what he was walking into, but somehow he felt a small glimmer of hope.


	6. Chapter 6

Dark Metamorphosis 6

This has been rolling around for weeks, and to my regular readers, yes am totally distracted but hope to be back to my usual shenanigans soon.

For you X-men Readers - if you think I'm going to leave my favorite Feral hanging in the wind you've got another thing coming...Plenty of Victor action in this one.

I normally hate crossovers but this one won't leave me alone. Christine Feehan owns everything Carpathian and Marvel comics owns everything X-Men I only own my poor little traumatized OC. Wink.

Picks up while the de la Cruz brothers are in Romania for Dark Celebration.

Zacharias de la Cruz/OC

Victor Creed aka Sabretooth/OC

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She cringed against the cold stone, the rough garment covering her entire body as she knelt, a bucket filled with dirty water, next to her. The brush was harsh against her hands as she scrubbed the blood from the floor. Her blood...she tried not to think about her punishment.

She'd been found outside the walls of the abbey. The Mother Superior ordered her lashed thirty times for her disobedience. She knew if she cried out, it would be another ten lashes, so she'd kept her voice silent. She'd almost cried out when she'd felt a strange wave of comfort, a warmth her body had never felt before flow through her, along with anger and a strong desire for revenge. She knew the last two emotions very well.

She'd been born in the abbey, she didn't know her mother. The Mother Superior never mentioned her, or her father, just that she was property of the abbey, and not to allow herself to be seen or heard by anyone. She lived in the dark cellars, only allowed up at night, when the young students of the school were asleep in bed, to take care of cleaning the large kitchens and the hallways where the sister's cells were located.

She knew the history of her prison, an ancient castle brought over stone by stone and rebuilt in the small valley it now occupied. There were historical tours open to the public once a week, and if she so much as moved in her small hidden room, she would have ten lashes when it was over. Twenty if any of the children in the boarding school saw her.

Thirty was the punishment for going outside. She rarely saw the sun, rarely saw the stars or the moon. Her entire life had been within these ancient walls. At first, she couldn't remember pain, just harsh words, maybe a slap on the hand if she disobeyed. When she had been here long enough to clearly remember, her claws began to grow. After that, Mother Superior moved her from the school rooms down to the cellar, forbade her to speak. That was when the pain started, nothing like her recent punishments. A slap, a kick, and over and over the reminder that she didn't belong in this holy place, her only name...Demonspawn.

She didn't know when she started controlling the pain, when a slap meant nothing, or a kick. When broken bones started to knit together. All she knew was the pain got worse. And Mother Superior quickly began withholding food and water, keeping her weak. Then the whippings started. At first just a single whip, a lash across her back or legs that quickly disappeared, but that grew slower as her hunger gnawed at her.

When she started showing signs that she wasn't a child anymore, then the whip was replaced with a long device with several lashes with barbed tips in the ends. That was when the numbers increased, and her hunger grew.

The newest attempt at making her suffer was hanging her by her arms for a day, the pain in her shoulders excruciating, but her feet couldn't touch the floor to ease the pain. The lash was allowed to hit her body wherever it landed, and her hunger was all consuming.

She honestly couldn't remember when she'd been allowed a scrap of food, even the kitchens were clean of even the smallest crumb when she was sent to clean them...the pantry and cabinets locked tight, even the steel ice box had three padlocks on it.

This last time, she'd seen an apple high in a tree outside the wall...she hadn't been trying to escape, just find some fallen fruit on the ground to fill the gnawing hole in her middle, to give herself some relief from the weakness and hunger and thirst.

Her body was still covered with open wounds, trying to slowly knit back together, and the rough cloth of her garment brushed against them constantly. She could feel whimpers trying to form in the back of her throat but forced herself to stay silent. She could feel the eyes of the Sister watching her as she scrubbed the floor, removing any trace of her ordeal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kat stretched, her hand touching something cold next to her. She looked over and saw Zacharias laying there. Her mind reached for his, knowing he was only sleeping, but she still felt a chilling fear. She reached up to the mark on her neck and felt it, and relaxed. He was there, just resting. She climbed out of the bed and padded silently to the bathroom. She had to admit he had some nice gifts, being able to just wave his hand and clean up blood stains was one of them. She still wanted a hot shower to just relax, a part of her was still in a panic. She knew he was fine, but the overwhelming despair was strong.

She didn't understand his 'lifemate' thing. He was her mate. Her genetic match, the perfect father for her cubs, her match in passion and need, not afraid of the barely checked violence and bloodlust that consumed her, a gift of her strong feral genetics. The empathic bond between them was all she would need to track him in times of separation or danger, his scent was imprinted on her so she would know him in a darkened crowded room without error or thought. Her body molded to his like a missing puzzle piece.

Of course he was going to have to adjust to a few things. She wasn't ever going to be the stay at home type, even if she was a teacher. She had to have her share of violence and bloodshed and he was going to have to allow it, or she'd dump him faster than a hot potato.

She felt a whisper of humor along the mate bond and she gave him a mental push to go back to sleep. She needed her alone time, peace and quiet without the arrogant, egotistical males in her life telling her what to do. She finished her shower and wrapped herself in a large towel. She watched him lying there, not moving, no sound of blood pumping or breath in his body, and felt a tightening of fear in her chest. She growled at herself for being stupid and grabbed her phone.

"Hello."

"Hey, Grandma. How's things?" She said sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Had a call from your father, seems he tried to burn the Seattle house down."

She laughed...then stopped. "Are you serious?"

"Well, that's what he said when he told me to air out his room here." Her grandmother chuckled. She'd given birth to a Class 3 mutant feral, watched her mate to and produce a Class 6, and couldn't be prouder of any of them.

"He's moving there? Why?"

"He didn't say, just that he'd nearly burned the Seattle place down and wanted to get away from the smell of smoke."

"He's not gonna mess with Uncle James, is he?" Her uncle still was suffering from amnesia, and she missed him terribly. He'd been her favorite playmate as a child, and as she got older, the one she could talk to when she didn't want to get into trouble with her parents.

"I don't think so. He did seem distracted, though. Maybe work?" The hard note in her grandmother's voice was the only sign of her disapproval of her father's 'work'.

"He's been semi retired for a few years, I don't even know if he's got anything lined up." Kat said.

"Well, maybe he's just lonely since you left."

"He'd have to be desperate to live with you for long, you'd mother him to death." Kat laughed. If there was one thing her father loved...and hated, it was being taken care of. A few days and he'd act like a spoiled cat on a cushion, just roll over to have his belly rubbed, but after that, the claws would come out.

"Well he doesn't have to worry about that, too much. My arthritis won't let me do too much mothering. Mostly cooking and keeping the place clean."

"I wish you'd let him hire some help." She said.

"Not yet, when I can't get up the stairs, I'll hire an upstairs maid, until then, its my house and I'll run it the way I want." Kat chuckled at the firm independence in her grandmother's voice. It was that same independence that made her hackles rise every time Zacharias pulled his macho bullshit, and the same independence that had gotten her mother killed.

She felt a slight movement behind her on the bed and sighed. "I've got to let you go, I'll call in a few days and see how the big cat is doing."

She clicked the phone closed on her grandmother's chuckle.

"You're sad, Minha pequena." He said softly behind her. She felt him sit up, his arms wrapping around her towel clad waist, his lips brushing the top of her damp hair.

"Just thinking about my Mom." She whispered, a tear slipping from her eye. She'd been fifteen, and they'd been working on a surprise dinner for her Dad when Mom realized she'd forgotten something at the store. Kat offered to go get it, but Mom had just growled and reminded her she only had a learner's permit and needed a licensed driver with her. She remembered her mother smiling as she walked out the door, waving with her keys in her hand.

It had been three hours before the police showed up at the door. Her father wasn't even home yet, and Kat was getting worried about both of them. A hit and run, drunk driver, going almost one hundred miles an hour had broadsided her mother's car. If it had been Kat, she'd have walked away, but her mother was only a Class 3 healer...not enough to keep her alive after being ripped to shreds by the car.

She felt Zacharias behind her, and inside her mind, reliving it with her. He rocked her gently, _"It will never happen again. You are safe."_

_"But she's gone. My Dad is all alone, again. Last time...well it wasn't pretty by any means and I've tried to keep him sane the last twenty years. If he lets go...lets the animal take over again, I'm afraid for the world."_

She let him see...the bloodlust, the violence, the hate her father was capable of. She'd found him once, in the middle of a street brawl in Singapore...fifty dead bodies piled around him, half of them police and swat team members who'd tried to take him down. She'd talked him out of there, before anyone else had arrived, and brought him back home. It had taken months for him to actually speak again. That was after the fight with her uncle at the top of the Statue of Liberty in New York.

"You are not responsible for your father, Katherine." He whispered.

"Yes I am. Without me...without something to keep him human, he will let it rule him again. I have to go back." She whispered, the fear filling her. She knew her father would laugh, fear was something he neither respected or allowed. It was him she was afraid for...him and the entire world.

"We can visit if you wish...after..." He let the word linger in the air.

"After what?" She growled.

"After you have finished your conversion." He said.

"Conversion...what the hell!" She stood up, and turned glaring at him.

"Kitten, put the claws away..." he laughed. "It should have started last night."

She sensed his confusion, and that warm sensation as he entered her body. His confusion grew stronger as he examined her.

"Nothing...I do not understand. We've exchanged blood more than three times, and still no sign of the conversion."

"Exchanged blood...you didn't tell me about any conversion, you prick!" She growled again.

"I...it is necessary, all my sisters-in-law have gone through the process..." She sensed real confusion, and even fear in him.

"Well they don't have a Class 6 almost Class 7 healing factor do they, Bonehead." She snapped.

"That shouldn't..."

"Bullshit. My factor keeps my body at what is optimum for me, you're blood is absorbed, and tastes great by the way, but my healing factor keeps me where I need to be for optimal survival in any situation."

"I don't understand..."

"I heal...everything, including age. My father is almost two hundred years old, my uncle only four years younger. The three of us have the strongest recorded healing factors known to man...we don't know if there is anything, anywhere that can kill any of us, and with Uncle James, he's got a damned metal skeleton now, so even Dad might not be able to kill him."

"Metal..."

"Forget it...read one of Paul's comics sometime...you might get the idea." She grabbed her jeans to slip them on.

"Minha pequena, do not be angry with me..."

"Oh...too late for that one, Bonehead." She growled low. "I'm going to go find something to eat. I'm starving, and while blood tastes nice, I need REAL food."


	7. Chapter 7

Dark Metamorphosis 7

This has been rolling around for weeks, and to my regular readers, yes am totally distracted but hope to be back to my usual shenanigans soon.

For you X-men Readers - if you think I'm going to leave my favorite Feral hanging in the wind you've got another thing coming...Plenty of Victor action in this one.

I normally hate crossovers but this one won't leave me alone. Christine Feehan owns everything Carpathian and Marvel comics owns everything X-Men I only own my poor little traumatized OCs. Wink.

Picks up while the de la Cruz brothers are in Romania for Dark Celebration.

Zacharias de la Cruz/OC

Victor Creed aka Sabretooth/OC

AN...cringes at the sounds of crickets...please review.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kat glared into the refrigerator. Not a lot to choose from, some vegetable broth that made her nose wrinkle in disgust, some kid food that she knew better than to touch, and a bowl filled with chunks of raw meat. She pulled the cold metal bowl out and closed the door.

The meat smelled fresh, at least, and she needed the protein. She picked up a chuck and held it to her lips.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you." Said a feminine voice from the door. She glared.

"Why not?" she asked as an eight pound ball of fluff came running between the woman's legs, growling and barking.

"She doesn't like anyone messing with her food. I'm Juliette." The woman said, picking up the growling piece of fluff. Kat growled back, and Juliette laughed.

"I guess I can eat the dog." Kat shrugged, as her growl had no effect.

"Ginny would never forgive you."

"Well SHIT!" She growled and opened the door and dropped the bowl back inside. "Is there anything to eat around here?"

"I'm sure your lifemate will provide what you need. Besides eating is over rated." Juliette laughed.

"Not for me, and I'm starving." Kat growled. Juliette looked at her strangely, but nodded.

"How is it possible you've resisted the conversion?" She asked as she opened the freezer and pulled out a sealed box. She walked to the industrial microwave and Kat groaned.

"My mutation, and do you have to heat it up. I just need protein, and I'll take it raw."

"Mutation? You mean like Paul is always talking about in those comics he reads?" She tossed the box back into the freezer, and Kat silently thanked whatever deity was looking over her. She needed food, not processed crap.

"Yes, just like in the damned comics. EXACTLY like in the damned comics." Kat snapped. She was getting tired of being judged by such a short ruler.

Juliette opened a door, which to Kat's surprise was a large walk in refrigerator...and she could smell the fresh beef hanging in it. She followed, her nose guiding her to the freshest carcass. Her claws lengthened and she quickly used them to cut off a large piece of meat.

"I'd rather you cooked that." Juliette said. "I can remember when I have had to eat raw meat, and would rather not watch it." Kat grumbled but nodded, walking out of the walk-in and grabbing a skillet from an overhead pot rack. She threw the meat into it and dropped it, loudly, on the stove.

She flipped the switch to turn the burner on and sat down to wait, her stomach growling louder than the dog. She felt a gentle hand on her hair and turned to glare.

"I see Juliette is taking care of you." He whispered, as he slipped his arms around her shoulders.

"I'm mad at you." She growled back.

"I know, you have those formidable barriers up again." she felt Zacharias lean over her, his lips brushing her hair.

She jumped up and grabbed a fork to turn the meat that was starting to sizzle on the stove.

"Minha pequena, I can only beg for your forgiveness. Neither one of us has had much time for talk..." He said. She turned around, and they were the only two in the kitchen.

"Yeah, well something along the lines of 'exchanging blood just might fuck up your life' would have been a good idea." The growl wasn't as pronounced. He was right, she'd been so wrapped up in mating she hadn't done a whole lot of talking...and she'd basically done the same thing to him, binding them with a feral mating bond without explaining things to him.

He slipped his arms around her waist and she leaned back against his broad chest. She felt a lump in her throat. She could picture her parents at a stove, her father holding her mother just like this.

"We cannot change the past, minha pequena, we can only look to the future." He whispered as she turned the meat in the skillet. "If you feel we need to check on your father, we will go to America and check on him."

"You have a ranch to run, and school starts in two days..." She started making excuses.

"And all my brothers are home, and the children will be fine if you decide to go." His voice was low and sultry, and she could feel her need for him grow.

"He's a big boy, he can take care of himself." She said, turning in his arms, the meat forgotten for a moment. She wrapped her arms around his waist and nestled her head under his chin.

"You are concerned...it is not that difficult to do, we can go for a few days and then return home." She felt his cheek brushing against her hair, as his hands rubbed gently in circles on her back. She could feel him, pressed against her stomach, but he just held her, comforting her.

"A couple days, just to make sure he gets settled in the Hamptons. I don't want him to start fighting with grandma...and I don't know what's going on with him."

"We will leave on next rising...and you probably should do something with your meal..." He chuckled softly, and she felt the answering echo in her mind. **"**_Eat, minha pequena, there is plenty of time left in this rising, and I do not wish to take you on the table where the children eat." _

_"Grow up, bonehead, not everything is about sex."_ She chuckled, sending him an image of her on the table, her clothes in disarray, eyes begging him. She smiled at his moan as she pulled the barely cooked meat from the skillet and with her claws cut a bite sized piece off and popped it in her mouth. He watched her eat every bite, then with a wave of his hand, cleaned up the kitchen.

XXXXXXX

Victor dropped his bag on the bed. He'd nearly changed his mind three times on the way here. This house...where they'd conceived their daughter, where his wife's body had rested on the night of her wake, where he'd lost control and gone tearing into the night. He wondered if they ever did find the bodies of those drug dealers...then shrugged. He really didn't care.

Annabell was downstairs in her suite. She'd met him at the door, told him his room was ready, and then limped off to watch her 'shows'. NCIS and House, knowing her, she never was one for soaps. He walked over to the closet, and opened the folding doors. A gasp ending in a whimpering growl that sounded frail even to his ears escaped his lips.

All of her things, still hanging in the closet, like she would walk in the door any minute. He turned, grabbed the bag off the bed and stormed down the hall to the guest room. Amanda was dead, he'd identified her body at the morgue, he'd been the one to sit with her all night, stroking her hair, trying to say good-bye. He'd been the one who stayed until the last shovel of dirt was piled on the grave...until the rain stopped. He'd been the one that had slept on the mound of dirt for weeks...because he couldn't sleep in their bed without her there.

He kicked open the guest room door and dropped his bag on the bed. His feet took him out the door, and down the stairs. He could hear the TV and followed the sound.

"WHY!" He demanded from the door.

"She was my daughter." The soft words cut him, but he could smell the tears.

"And she was my wife." He growled back.

"She's gone, but I miss her..." The old woman looked up at him, pain-filled eyes daring him to condemn her.

"So do I. Every damned day." He grabbed a bottle of Scotch and poured himself a drink...then realized the bottle was half empty. He shrugged. If Kat were here, she'd get on to both of them, but he just poured Annabell a drink and handed it to her.

"Why are you here, Victor?" Annabell's voice was tired.

"I wish I could explain." He leaned on a wall and sipped the alcohol.

_Help me...please..._The words whispered across his brain, as mind numbing pain dropped him to his knees. His mind was flooded with images, held to the floor, heavy booted feet kicking hard against his sides, bones shattering until a stunning blow to the back of the head and blackness.

He woke to Annabell pressing a cold cloth to his head.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Why I'm here." He growled, and pulled back the collar of his shirt. He heard the old woman gasp, then - unexpectedly smelled something like hope for a second, then crashing grief.

"SHE'S DEAD!" Annabell screamed at him, tears flowing down her face. "That should be gone...Where is she? Where is my daughter?"

"Dead. We buried her, and before you ask, I double checked on my way here. That has been a doubt in my mind since this started." He growled, holding himself back, his first instinct was to snap her neck.

"You checked?"

"Grave hasn't been disturbed, its been almost twenty years, and the mark hasn't faded, but it just became active about a year ago." He watched her face, she was trying to take it in.

"Twenty...how?"

"I don't know. All I know is, the person on the end of this thing now is being abused and I'm going to find them." Her eyes searched his, then she nodded. 

"Whatever you need me to do, Victor." She said.

"Right now, I don't even know what I'm going to do. This...thing is driving me insane."

"Call Kat."

"No...she's found her mate, and doesn't need to be involved in this." He growled. "She went through enough with me after her mother died."

"She's your daughter."

"She's grown and has a life...you of all people should be telling me to leave her out of it."

"We need her." The words were soft. He looked out the half covered window at the afternoon sun. He did need her. She had a level head, she knew how to keep him from letting the animal take control, keep him from hurting innocent people. But she had her own crosses to bear now, she didn't need him too.

XXXXXXXXXX

She couldn't move. She could feel hands dragging at her, feel her body roll down an incline, but she couldn't do anything to stop it. Words filtered into her ears but she couldn't make sense of them.

"...Creed wants...stupid freaks need to all die...well rid of it." She felt something damp and smelling of compost hit her face. "...cover the body...doesn't need it showing up...fundraiser." More moist particles hitting her body where her rough garment exposed bloody flesh.

She felt her finger twitch and opened her eyes just in time to see a shovel throw dirt down onto her body. They were burying her alive...She screamed in her mind, but there was no one to hear. She looked up, the branches of the apple tree swaying over her, and she could see the cross on the top of the abbey. She felt something, a surge of power through her body, and an answer.

_I will find you. You won't die, it will be uncomfortable but you won't die. Wait until night. I think I know where you are. I'll be there._

She screamed in her mind as more dirt pressed down on her. A large pile was pushed into the hole, covering her face and torso. She screamed silently again, the weight pressing down on her, burying her alive.


	8. Chapter 8

Dark Metamorphosis 8

This has been rolling around for weeks, and to my regular readers, yes am totally distracted but hope to be back to my usual shenanigans soon.

For you X-men Readers - if you think I'm going to leave my favorite Feral hanging in the wind you've got another thing coming...Plenty of Victor action in this one.

I normally hate crossovers but this one won't leave me alone. Christine Feehan owns everything Carpathian and Marvel comics owns everything X-Men I only own my poor little traumatized OCs. Wink.

Picks up while the de la Cruz brothers are in Romania for Dark Celebration.

Zacharias de la Cruz/OC

Victor Creed aka Sabretooth/OC

AN...cringes at the sounds of crickets...please review.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kat dropped her bag on the bed. She didn't know exactly where Zacharias was. She'd flown up, having Mort pick her up at the ranch, She'd felt him close, except when he'd gone to ground to rest a little after dawn, after they'd landed in New York. She knew he'd find her, but she wanted to get to the house.

"I told you, I'm fine." Victor said from the door.

"Dad...you are not fine. You are skin and bones." She said. "When I left, you were thin, but I thought that was just you over working. Are you eating okay?"

"Ta tell the truth, I'm hungry, constantly." He growled. She could see it, a burning desperate look in his eyes. She felt a cool brush, and Zacharias was standing next to her.

"Dad, Zacharias de la Cruz, my mate." Zacharias held his hand out to Victor. Victor shook it, and she watched his arm tremble. He'd never been frail...weak, not in her entire life. Even after her mother died he was the strong one.

_He has a bond, like ours. His energy is flowing along that. Whatever is on the other end is draining him._ She blanched. Something was draining him.

"Dad?"

He actually walked over and sat on the bed. His movements were slow, but not calculated, it was as if it took every bit of energy just to cross a few feet.

"There's someone, they're starving her, beating and abusing her, and this afternoon, they buried her alive. I think I know where she is, but I don't know if I can get there to rescue her." He spoke each word with care.

"Where?" Kat said.

"The old abbey...up in the Catskills...she's under an apple tree where she could see the top of the main building."

"Then we need to go."

"Kitten...I don't think I can."

She felt something...fear. "We'll help you. Dad you have to do this, if not it will kill you too."

_I will go, and bring this person here._

"No, Bonhead, we'll go together.

"I cannot allow that. I will not allow you to put yourself in danger."

"The only danger right now...is of me smacking you over the head, Bonehead...and you sleeping on the couch for a month." She growled back.

"Katherine...minha pequena, I can move much faster, and remove her without her tormenters knowing she is even missing."

"And just how the hell are you going to find her?" Kat growled.

"I will link with your father, and track her through the bond." He answered simply, and logically. He could do it. She was slowly getting used to the damned Carpathians and their powers.

"Someone do SOMETHING!" Her father growled.

XXXXXXXX

Zacarias tried to ignore the darkness in his mind, his overwhelming urge to rend and kill something for causing this torment. He found the link, so like the secondary link with his lifemate...and at the other end he found fear, stark fear and pain. He entered the second mind and found only darkness. Pain, fear, hate...all raging in her mind. He was able to get a sense of age, either late teens or early twenties, but the pain made it difficult to judge.

He was able to lock onto her mind and, transforming into mist, honed in on her location.

It was a matter of moments to find her, however, the place wasn't as quiet as he suspected. Extracting her would take some time, especially with the hundreds of people walking over the area in formal evening attire. He slipped into the ground, surrounding her body, and gently lifted her, filling the void her body created with soil from the side so no one would notice a sudden depression in the ground above. It was delicate work, and he would need to feed when he returned to his normal form.

While shielding her from all eyes, he scanned the minds around him. No undead, for which he was grateful, but the pure hatred in their minds, the pure evil he felt from these humans made him cringe.

_...mutants need to die. _

_...undead they must be destroyed. _

_...Morrison was right to include the Friends of Humanity in our cause._

_...new poison should incapacitate them completely. Now we just need a vampire to experiment on._

_...destroy any mutants we find in the way. _

_...Creed. After I kill him, I will find my sainted mother and rip her blue skin from her bones._

_...spawn should be dead. I cannot allow Graydon to know she existed here. Harboring mutants is punishable by death._

He felt the last one throw something into a shredder. He quickly scanned her mind deeper, but was only able to gleen three pieces of information. The woman he was carrying was named Emily...her mother had been a nun who was raped by one of the ones that hated mutants, and she had the same mutation his lifemate and her father had.

That was enough. He needed to get the girl to safety, and stop the drain on his father-in-law. She needed food, shelter, and mostly protection. She would never be completely comfortable in the presence of women, not after how she'd been raised, but time, kindness, and some distance from her pain would help her begin to heal.

He materialized in the same room, Katherine was waiting with the bed turned down. He quickly cleaned the girl in his arms, laying her on the clean sheets. He turned to his mate, knowing she could feel his hunger, and she slipped into his arms.

XXXXXXXX

Victor could smell her. She didn't smell anything like Amanda, she smelled of pain and fear and hunger. It disguised her own unique scent, and he growled. He would kill those that hurt her, his mate.

He shook his head. She was at the other end of the bond, but she wasn't his mate. She was just a kid who'd had a rough time. He felt the constant drain that had been plaguing him for over a year slow down...something was happening to her.

He charged up the stairs and pushed open the door, surprised at his own burst of energy. She lay on the bed, her hair clean, her body covered in slow healing bruises, cuts and scrapes. Her face was turned away from the door, and he growled, low. He wanted to see her face.

"Dad, let her sleep. Zacharias gave her blood to help speed her healing, that will help with her hunger as well, but she will need to eat as soon as she wakes up." Kat said softly.

"Who is she?"

"All I was able to find out is her name is Emily." Zacharias said. "And she doesn't even know that much."

"How?"

"Her mind will clear in time, we should be able to get more after she wakes and eats. Her body will need months to heal, even with her phenomenal healing ability."

"Phenomenal?"

"She rivals Katherine, or yourself. She may even be stronger." He glared at his son-in-law. He still wasn't happy that her mate was Carpathian, but it was Kat's life.

"I want to talk to her." He growled.

"When she is able." Kat said. "Now YOU go get some rest. And eat something." She shooed him out the door like a child and he growled again. They were keeping him away from his mate.

He shook his head again, and let his daughter lead him to his room. _Not your mate, just a kid. Keep it straight, Creed. She's not yours._

From somewhere deep in his mind came a response, from that part of him that kept him alive, allowed him to survive, that controlled his instincts and sent the surges of bloodlust through his veins..._Yet._


	9. Chapter 9

Dark Metamorphosis 9

This has been rolling around for weeks, and to my regular readers, yes am totally distracted but hope to be back to my usual shenanigans soon.

For you X-men Readers - if you think I'm going to leave my favorite Feral hanging in the wind you've got another thing coming...Plenty of Victor action in this one.

I normally hate crossovers but this one won't leave me alone. Christine Feehan owns everything Carpathian and Marvel comics owns everything X-Men I only own my poor little traumatized OCs. Wink.

Picks up while the de la Cruz brothers are in Romania for Dark Celebration.

Zacharias de la Cruz/OC

Victor Creed aka Sabretooth/OC

AN Ri-chan - I try, I really do. I've never been a big fan of crossovers but this one is just logical. The pieces all fit together nicely.

gem1990 Girly squeal...yeah I know Victor's cringing in the dungeon, but its nice to see you again. Yeah I'm not big on crossovers - see above A/N but I'm having fun with this one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Victor sat in shadow, watching her sleep. He had yet to see her face, deliberately. Kat glanced at him from time to time and he knew she was picking up his fear. This cub...frail...whatever she was had turned his world upside down and he wasn't sure if he was grateful or ready to rip her to shreds.

The fact that he actually liked his son-in-law didn't help. If he'd been able to rip into the Carpathian for seducing his little girl it would have helped, but damn it Zacarias was exactly what his Kitten needed, and he knew it. Of course they were still adjusting to the mating bond, that always took time.

Zacharias kept thinking it was his lifemate bond that was tying them so close, and Victor chuckled to himself. That damned lifemate bond was too complicated, had too many strings...the mate bond was simple, direct, and complete, when it was finished. It took years to fully manifest, which was another reason he was fighting the bond with the cub on the bed. It shouldn't be this strong - not yet. He hadn't had her screaming under him as he drove his seed deep into her womb...the bond was never this strong without sex.

Of course none of the mated couples he knew had been through the loss of a mate, so he had no idea if this was normal or not. What if it was something that stayed...what if...too many questions, and he wasn't the kind to sit and dwell on the things he didn't have answers to.

"Zacharias, you said you picked up information from the guests?" He growled. The Carpathian just turned and looked at him.

"Yes. Something about mutants, and the Morrison Group being involved. We are trying to decide if we are going to pursue this or leave it for the mutant groups to handle."

"Well make up your damned mind, because, when this cub is on her feet, I'm gonna teach my idiot son a lesson he won't soon forget." Victor growled.

"Dad, you disowned Graydon years ago." Kat said quietly. They were by the window, talking in low tones, not wanting to disturb the cub on the bed.

"He's still my offspring, even if Raven is his mother." Victor growled.

"Aunt Raven would be right there with you to kill him, Dad and you know it. He's as much a danger to her and Uncle Eric as they are to Professor Xavier." Zacharias jumped at the name, a slight surge of fear in his scent.

"You've dealt with the Egghead?" Victor growled at his son-in-law.

"No, Xavier was an ancient mage that threatened our people. He controlled one of the oldest and greatest of us, Razvan, but I thought he was dead." Zacharias said.

"Well, I've known Chuck since he was a kid...he's no mage, a telepath, the most powerful in the world, at least with the exception of your race, but he's not immortal - or ancient for that matter." Victor said.

"I know, the name just reminds me what we've had to face." Zacharias said. Victor nodded.

A slight moan from the bed made them all jump, even the Carpathian who was supposed to be monitoring her. Victor pulled back into the shadows as Kat and Zacharias went to the bed to check on her.

She opened her eyes, and sat up, and he froze. She wasn't Amanda, no resemblance at all, and he let out a small sigh of relief. It had been his last fear, his last unreasonable doubt, that somehow, she'd been cloned. Her eyes locked with his and he felt like he was in a freefall. She wasn't Amanda, but she was definitely HIS!.

XXXXXXXXX

"You need to rest. Lay back. We've got some food ready when you feel like you can eat." A woman said. She cringed away, but there was a man on the other side of her. She was in a bed, not just a cot, but a real bed with soft sheets against her bare skin. She was afraid to get blood on them, afraid she'd have to work hours to clean it out.

"Do not worry, you should only worry about getting better." The man said next to her. She ignored him. She could smell...sense...the third. She found him in the shadows, her eyes locking with his. This was the one she'd felt. The voice that promised to save her. he was here, and her body began to burn as his eyes locked with hers. This was the devil, to tempt her to sin. This was Lucifer, and already his eyes made her moan with need. She knew his voice would be like velvet in her ears, his skin like silk against hers, and she knew she was damned forever.

Somehow, it didn't seem like that bad a fate. She'd only been destined for Purgatory anyway, Heaven's gates closed to her forever because of her claws and fangs. If God didn't want her, and Lucifer did, would it be so bad to burn in Hell for all eternity? If Lucifer could make her feel like this with just a look, would it be worth her soul to give in?

She felt a low growl forming in the back of her throat as the woman reached for her. She pulled back, and glanced at the other man, the one that smelled of blood.

"You should eat." The man said. She glared at them both, the growl growing louder.

"Leave, both of you. She's feeling threatened." said Lucifer, from the shadows. He stepped into the light and her growl turned to a gasp. He was perfection, his black eyes glowing, still locked with hers, his lips pulled back in a snarl, showing fangs that matched hers. She had an awful thought, what if he was her father, the demon that raped her mother...would she still submit to him? She could smell her own fear, and cringed.

"Dad...?" The woman said. She glared. This was his child? 

"I'll make sure she eats." He growled softly. She felt the vibration through the bed, from across the room. She was right, his voice just pushed that burning heat through her blood. He was the devil incarnate, and she was his sacrifice.

"Kat, she's afraid of women, for good reason. Let Zacharias and I handle this." His voice softened, and she whimpered, she wanted him to talk to her like that. She was barely comprehending the conversation around her, her entire attention focused on the demon stalking closer to the bed.

"Dad, no offense, but I can smell you, and frankly, you are not going to hurt this kid...she doesn't need you pawing all over her, at least not until she can make educated choices for herself." She wanted to rip the woman apart, she was trying to stop him from coming closer.

"Kat, she's about ready to spring at you. Zacharias will keep me in line, go visit with your grandmother a while." She whimpered as he reached the foot of the bed and she could see the weakness in him. Somehow she knew that she was responsible for that, she closed her eyes and could feel him, his hunger was almost as deep as her own, his body sending her energy. She clamped down, stopping the flow, and he grabbed one of the posters of the bed to support himself.

"Why?" He whispered. His voice making her moan. She finally had the strength to look away, and felt her body growing weaker by the second. He was what was keeping her alive. Without him feeding her, without him killing himself, she had a chance at her salvation. If she could die, before he finished seducing her soul, she could at least make it to Purgatory, and maybe, eventually, after an eternity of atonement, to the Gates of Heaven.

Hands caught her as she started to collapse, and she felt the surge of energy from him, push through against her feeble resistance. She felt the energy flowing into her body again and let out a strangled..."No."

The woman, Kat, put a tray across her lap. It was food, more food than she'd seen in years, but she turned away. She didn't trust it.

"GET OUT!" He roared at the woman, and she just glared and walked away. The devil moved to take her place.

"Can you do anything?" He asked the other man.

"It is draining but I can compel her to eat." She felt something in her mind and she watched her hands pick up the spoon and bring it to her lips. It tasted unlike anything she'd ever eaten, and before she knew it, the bowl of liquid was empty. They poured more into the bowl, and she felt herself finishing that as well.

"That is probably more than she needed this time. She will need a liquid diet for at least a couple of days until her body is used to getting fed again." The one called Zacharias said. She wanted to rip his throat out for forcing her.

"It's for your own good, cub. Now rest. One of us will be here when you wake." He said softly, and she felt her eyes drift closed. She felt him move from the side of the bed, and heard the creak of a chair as he took a seat nearby. She knew the other was gone, but hadn't heard him move. She drifted to sleep, somehow knowing the devil would keep the nightmares away.


	10. Chapter 10

She was wrong. She sat straight up in bed, the voice of the Mother Superior ringing in her ears, the vision of hell, and demonic hands gripping her and pulling her down toward the rising flames, to the side, the man reached for her, offering her a reprieve from the fires of hell.

She felt arms around her, but not holding her down, and a voice, deep but soft and soothing, purring in her ear like one of the kitchen cats at the abbey.

"Shhh, Emily, nothing will hurt you here. You're safe." She felt the rough rasp of his cheek across her hair, and her entire body seemed to go limp, letting his arms support her. She'd never felt as safe and secure as she did in that moment. His words slowly penetrated her mind.

"What did you call me?". She whispered.

"Emily." He was stroking circles on her back with one hand. "It's your name." His voice was still soft, and she let out an involuntary sound as she trembled, and felt a growing ache low in her stomach. She stiffened and pulled away.

He was the devil, there to tempt her. She fought the fear with whispered Hail Mary's. She felt him pull away, and a part of her wanted to cling to him.

"I'm not going to hurt you?" He said. "Please, Emily, pleas don't be afraid of me. I can't handle it right now."

"Why do you call me that?" His arms tightened around her again. She shuddered, the ache in her stomach became stronger and she felt tears drop from her lashes.

"Zacharias, he said that was your name. The bitch that was hurting you, she said it was your name. Said your mother was a nun, who was raped." She shuddered again. He knew, he knew her sin, he knew she would be his in the end, there was no forgiveness for a child of rape that murdered her own mother as she gave birth.

Her tears fell, and she turned to look at him for the first time. His face was the face of the avenging angel Gabriel, and his strong arms offered comfort and safety, and she surrendered. She felt him pull her close, and felt tears she didn't know she was still capable of slip from her eyes.

"Who are you?"

"Victor Creed." He whispered against her hair.

She let out a sharp hiss, she was right he was the devil, the devil that spawned the demon that hated her and all her kind.

"Graydon Creed's father?" They'd tried to keep her ignorant, unaware of what went on in the outside world, but some of the nuns, especially the younger ones had radios and televisions, and at night, while cleaning, she'd hears news reports, seen news casts of what went on outside the walls. "Sabretooth."

She felt him stiffen for a moment, then relax and chuckle. She wasn't sure what he found funny.

"Well that was easier than I thought it would be." He said finally. "I've been trying to decide how much to tell you now, and how much to save for later. How do you know about Graydon?"

"He visited the abbey many times, Mother Superior always had me hide from him. She claimed he was a man of God, doing God's work to rid the world of demonspawn like me, and that if I didn't obey, she would turn me over to him to make an example of."

"I shoulda drowned that runt at birth, hell, woulda if I'da known about him." She actually chuckled at the indignation in his voice. "And if I ever get my hands on the bitch that called you a demonspawn, she'll wish she'd never been born."

He was so fiercely protective, his arms tightening around her, she trembled with fear. In her world, men were Father, Brother, or the Enemy, yet for some reason she couldn't place him in amy of those three categories. Her teaching, such as it was, taught that if something didn't fit, it was to be feared or destroyed. She didn't think she could come close to destroying him, so fear was her only option.

Xxxxxxxx

Her fear was like a spike, driving deep into his chest. He didn't want to frighten her anymore, but when he tried to pull away, she clung to him. He sent a silent plea to Zacharias to come help him.

She jumped as the door opened and the Carpathian male walked into the room carrying a tray with light foods and broth with him.

"It's good to see you awake.". He said soothingly. She trembled harder, Victor thought she might break.

"I brought breakfast, and then I think another nap, we must get your body healthy, so Victor can recover as well."

She turned to look at him, and he was caught in her almost pitch black eyes. He tried not to show his reaction, but his growing arousal was becoming prominent against her side.

"You are ill because of me?" She asked. He just nodded. She pulled away, and nodded at the Carpathian. "I am hungry."

They sat with her, making small talk while she ate, once she was finished, Zacharias put her back to sleep. Victor was torn between trying to guard her sleep, and discussing what he'd found out with his daughter and her mate.

"She will not dream again." The Carpathian said. "I should have prevented it before. She needs rest, I should have thought of this before."

The two men walked out the door and down the stairs. Kat and her grandmother were already in the study when Victor sat down in his favorite chair. He couldn't remember ever being this tired.

"Katherine and I have been discussing this, we think the three of you should come to Brazil with us. The girl will heal faster, and with the padre at the rancho, she will not feel so cut off from her faith.". Zacharias said. Victor noticed the glare his daughter gave her mate and knew this wasn't a unanimous decision.

"Next time you presume to speak for my daughter, at least make sure she agrees with you, and isn't in the room." He told his son-in-law with a grin. "I have a feeling you'll get a cold reception in bed tonight."

"Dad, stay the fuck out of my sex life.". Kat said indignantly. Victor just chuckled. He also nodded at the Carpathian. He'd been considering the same plan, and Toad and the plane were ready at the airport.

"As soon as it is safe to move her, and Annabell, you're coming too, I don't want Graydon remembering you're related to me, even by marriage."

His mother in law just nodded. "I packed last night." They all seemed to be on the same page. Now they just had to wait until Emily was safe to move. There was no way in hell he was losing another mate, not now.


End file.
